A serious case of the Mondays.

I always knew coming back from a long vacation was kind of awful, but during all those years at DePauw I never experienced a Monday quite as awful as this one.

I had a group meeting at 8:30 AM, meaning I had to wake up around 6:30 and hop on the early bus into town. Five minutes into my ride, I knew it was going to be an awful day. I dug around in my back, fearing that I had forgotten something incredibly important. I texted C, who was still home, and he confirmed the worst – I had accidentally left my computer charger at home. I was too far gone to go back. So I stayed on the bus, knowing I’d have to ride back to Ypsi between my meeting and my afternoon class.

Cafe Mocha & Vanilla Latte (Photo credit: Xin Li 88)

It was at this point that I stopped myself. I knew it was going to be a rough day, but thinking so negatively about it wasn’t going to change anything. So I got myself a giant vanilla latte ($1 off with a coupon!) and headed into my meeting, making a plan to take advantage of my day.

Instead of brooding during my extra bus ride back and forth to town, I listened to an episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Alohomora, and indulged in some Harry-Potter-nerding-out. Instead of worrying about wasting time when I was home, I enjoyed a hot bowl of soup and watched an episode of Underemployed. Then I headed back into town for a productive rest of the day.

Even though today was hard, I learned a valuable lesson about just how much a positive attitude can change everything. I came home, watched a Christmas movie with C, and enjoyed the rest of my night not worried about what happened before.

I know! The time lost traveling is really starting to get to me. Reading, listening to podcasts, or catching up with blog brainstorming are usually how I like to spend my commute. It can be rough sometimes, but I try to make the best of it.